Emprendedores vs. ejecutivos

A través del blog de Schumpeter (The Economist), este artículo sobre las diferencias entre la forma de razonar de un emprendedor y de un ejecutivo. Resume el trabajo de una profesora de la Universidad de Virginia.
Las diferencias

Sarasvathy concluded that master entrepreneurs rely on what she calls effectual reasoning. Brilliant improvisers, the entrepreneurs don't start out with concrete goals. Instead, they constantly assess how to use their personal strengths and whatever resources they have at hand to develop goals on the fly, while creatively reacting to contingencies. By contrast, corporate executives—those in the study group were also enormously successful in their chosen field—use causal reasoning. They set a goal and diligently seek the best ways to achieve it. Early indications suggest the rookie company founders are spread all across the effectual-to-causal scale. But those who grew up around family businesses will more likely swing effectual, while those with M.B.A.'s display a causal bent. Not surprisingly, angels and seasoned VCs think much more like expert entrepreneurs than do novice investors

Sarasvathy likes to compare expert entrepreneurs to Iron Chefs: at their best when presented with an assortment of motley ingredients and challenged to whip up whatever dish expediency and imagination suggest. Corporate leaders, by contrast, decide they are going to make Swedish meatballs. They then proceed to shop, measure, mix, and cook Swedish meatballs in the most efficient, cost-effective manner possible

Sarasvathy explains that entrepreneurs' aversion to market research is symptomatic of a larger lesson they have learned: They do not believe in prediction of any kind

Para el análisis jurídico: cómo hacerle contratos a un emprendedor y a un ejecutivo

entrepreneurs allow whomever they encounter on the journey—suppliers, advisers, customers—to shape their businesses

Chief among those influential partners are first customers. The entre-preneurs anticipated customer help on product design, sales, and identifying suppliers. Some even saw their first customer as their best investor

Corporate executives, by contrast, generally envisioned more tradit-ional vendor-customer interactions

Actitud ante los competidores

"The corporate guys are like hunter-gatherers," says Sarasvat-hy. "They are hired to win market share, so they concentrate fiercely on who is in the marketplace. The first thing they do is map out the lay of the land."

Entrepreneurs fret less about competitors, Sarasvathy explains, because they see themselves not in the thick of a market but on the fringe of one, or as creating a new market entirely. "They are like farmers, planting a seed and nurturing it," she says. "What they care about is their own little patch of ground.

Otra diferencia sobresaliente se refiere a las potencialidades del producto. El emprendedor busca inmediatamente mercados para el producto. El ejecutivo trata de explotar al máximo el mercado para el que el producto se diseñó.